Artificial headlands for coastal restoration

Construction of a satellite harbour 15 km north of Chennai harbour has resulted in erosion on the down drift coast as this stretch of coast experiences depleted sediment supply during the southwest monsoon. Due to the geometry of the coast, the coast receives a marginal quantum of sediment during the northeast monsoon. To protect the coastline, new concept involving construction of artificial headlands is suggested instead of adopting conventional coastal protective structures, such as groynes, seawalls etc. This paper discusses the numerical model studies carried out to design the configuration of the artificial headlands to suit the prevailing wave and sediment transport characteristics. The studies suggest an optimum length of projection of 14 m for the headlands and an optimum spacing of 200 m between the headlands to derive good results. Further the paper discusses the comparison of the results with a pair of groynes.